Trials of a Champion by Thomas O'Gorman

Author:Thomas O'Gorman [O'Gorman, Thomas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-09-20T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16: Keyland’s Rise

August 20, 850 A.A.

The dukes were assembled in the meeting hall for what was now the monthly witan with the King. They were all talking amongst each other about the events in Skal and preparations in Aviel for war. The King’s retinue entered followed by the King. Everyone stood up until Landis sat. All fell quiet.

“Thank you all for coming. Once a month can be trying for you who live out in the far reaches but when and if the Menegar invade we will need to meet more frequently than that. As you may have heard by now, there was a small Menegar attack on Trellheim that was easily defeated a week or so ago. The main force of the Menegar is in the mountains looking for Aggenburg. The only cause I can see for this reasoning is if the Menegar were ordered to kill every Skal before they attacked here. As for our preparations, we have moved half of the north army to the northern border of Skal in case they decide cross the border there. This force, about 3,000 strong, isn’t meant to stop the Menegar, but rather to deter them and inform us of the Menegar’s presence.”

“Sire, I apologize for interrupting, but my dukedom is where you have this small force placed,” Duke Wedhull said. “On one hand the force is not nearly big enough to be any kind of deterrent and secondly the force was poorly provisioned, and I am having to feed them out of my own stores. Surely there will be recompense.”

“Lord Wedhull, all accounts will be settled once these troubles are over. The size of the force was deliberated over by my generals and this was the best number they could come up with and keep the rest of the country safe.”

“Sire, I know good and well there are sixteen thousand troops surrounding Alexandra, and another three thousand on Skal’s southern border,” Wedhull said. “The rest of the country is unprotected. How do you explain this?”

“I don’t have to explain anything to you. I am King here. As I said before, my generals have put our troops in the best position to defend our country and I concur with their judgement.”

“What about LaVore,” Keyland, the Duke of Barristan said. “If LaVore, an ally of Menegar, attacks we are exposed. Surely you can spare some of the troops in Alexandra to protect against LaVore.”

“We have spies watching LaVore,” said Landis. “There is no evidence of their troops massing close to our border. In fact, most of their troops are on the Predian border. If this changes, we will reassign our troops, but let’s not look for trouble where there is none.”

“What about the South Sea?” Duke Avalon asked. “There is no support for an attack by sea.”

“Again, our spies indicate that there are no more troops in Vestua, Slavesta, and Norn. Menegar has kept around ten thousand troops home for defense and we don’t anticipate them using those troops for offensive action.

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